NEW ENGLxlND FARMER. 



385 



THE PRIZE REAPING MACHINE. 



This macliine was patented in 1845, by C. H. 

 McCoRMiCK, of Virginia, and has been found one 

 of the best labor-saving machines ever introduced 

 to the farmer; but particularly to the wheat grow- 

 ers in the South and West. It requires but two 

 hands to work it — one man to rake off the grain 

 and a boy to drive the horses. When the machine 

 is in good order and on fair fields, it will average cut- 

 ting about two acres an hour. The grain is cut 

 cleaner, and more even than it can be cut with the 

 cradle or sickle. The raker rides on a seat at- 

 tached to the machine, as will be seen by the cut, 

 and takes the wheat off at the side in gavels, ready 

 for binding. The knife has a sickle edge, and 

 plays horizontally; and is represented to cut one 

 hundred acres without being sharpened. The reel 

 gathers the wheat for cutting, and lops it over on 

 the table for the reaper. Mr. Rives, of Virginia, 

 states that his harvest hire had cost him $200 per 

 year with the sickle and cradle, and $30 per year 

 with the machine! This is certainly an impor- 

 tant saving in a single item of the plantation. 

 There is also a considerable saving in feeding a 

 less number of hands,and he thinks that half a bushel 

 to the acre is a moderate estimate in the saving of 

 the wheat itself. Tiie machine is simple in its 

 construction, and therefore not liable to get out of 

 order. We have seen a field of twenty-two acres 

 cut in one day with this machine, and on passing 

 over it found less scatterings than are usual when 

 the straw is cut with the cradle or sickle. 



' One of the worst things to fat on is Envy. 

 In our opinion, it is as difficult for a grudging man 

 to raise a double-chin, as it is for a bankrupt to 

 raise a loan. Plumpness comes not from roast 

 beef, but from a good heart and a cheerful disposi- 

 tion. — Albany Dutchman. 



THE PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 



When we undertake to enforce upon farmers the 

 importance of attention to the breeding of pure 

 stock, that is to say, of stock whose blood has 

 been known to be good for years, we are often met 

 by a question something like this — "Don't you be- 

 lieve that I can produce a dozen of as good cows, 

 or a dozen as good yokes of oxen from our native 

 stock, as you can produce of what you call thor- 

 ough bred animals, your Devons, and Ayrshires, 

 andDurhamsV Editors are bound to be patient 

 and answer the same question many times, and we 

 will attempt to reply to this, which is considered 

 by many as unanswerable consistently with truth, 

 and at the same time, with our high estimate of 

 the value of thorough bred stock. 



Perhaps in New England, we may have one an- 

 imal in ten or twenty thousand, which may be re- 

 garded as of pure blood, the remainder being cross- 

 es of all descriptions, having the mixed qualities 

 good and bad of forty or more accidental genera- 

 tions, and we may, without affecting the general 

 subject, concede the fact, that a given number of 

 accidentally fine animals may be selected from the 

 whole, which may be as individuals, of as much 

 pecuniary value, as any equal number of thor- 

 ough bred animals that can be found in the coun- 

 try. Among the various matters of interesting 

 speculations upon the principles of breeding, many 

 of which are, like tlie colors of flowers, the circu- 

 lation of sap, andthe/aci! of vegetation, mysteries 

 beyond our comprehension, there are some results 

 of observation so constant and uniform, that we ven- 

 ture to call them principles. One of those, and the 

 leading and familiar one is, that like produces like 

 throughout nature. We do not expect to gather 

 grapes of thorns or figs of thistles, nor do we ex- 

 pect our horses to breed cattle, nor our cattle 



